English 
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German 
Jamal Arrindell provides training and counseling to clients at Youz on the prevention team. Due to the COVID-19 virus, he was no longer able to host his groups and clients on site. Jamal and his team were looking for a professional solution to re-establish contact. They took the accelerated training for live online group and individual treatments through Live Online Care at Learning Connected. We asked Jamal how that worked and how he now uses the training in practice!
How did you experience the live online training itself?
"I personally found it very exciting at the beginning. I had heard a lot about online training, but about online treatments I was still a bit skeptical, to be honest. Fortunately, I was able to quickly adapt to online learning and had no trouble with the technology. We were given a lot of space to test the learnings from the training in practice and make our assignments. If things worked differently for me in practice, or if I still had questions about them, I could come back to them during the next training. That worked very well for me!"
How do you put what you learned in the course to use yourself now?
"After the course, we and our team have now fully translated five trainings into online trainings, including homework, knowledge tests, information resources and videos in the online environment. We started delivering the live online trainings and treatments in mid-May. Participants also find it very exciting at first and it also requires some preparation for the technology. Once everything is working the reactions are very positive! We have incorporated many interactive PowerPoints in the trainings with different assignments. Participants can draw things, write them down, think about questions, and share experiences with each other. The most important thing is that they themselves find it very nice that the training continues. We want to help them through this difficult period and maintain the contact as well as possible."
What do you consider to be the biggest advantages of live online treatment?
"A big advantage is that you can see a lot more emotions in participants and clients via video calling than via the phone. What I really like about the online environment is that there are so many options and features, unlike other video calling services. You can prepare videos and files, add links and PowerPoints. You can prepare homework and choose a date when it comes online. That works very well for me. I also have more one-on-one contact within the group treatments. Through the online learning environment we can see for each person how much time they spend on homework. This allows you to see more personally who hasn't done anything yet, sometimes because they find it difficult or need extra help. But also during training sessions it is easier to ask if someone wants to hang around for a while. Someone is at home and doesn't have to leave in a hurry. And I don't have to clean up the room myself, so I can spend that time with the participants. In individual treatments, I see a lot of advantages in doing homework online and watching videos."
How do you envision providing online training and treatment in the future?
"We will definitely take this into the future! The assignments are very nice to do online. And online training also works really well for participants who can't come for some reason. I recently had a participant who had broken her leg. For her it is ideal that she can follow the training online! But I also like face to face contact. I think we are moving towards a combination of online treatment and training and physical meetings. For example, I can see us offering support with homework online and giving a number of training sessions online. Of course, this also saves costs. You don't have to travel and you don't need space. We have now put 5 training courses entirely online. For other courses we are now looking at whether we can do more online! To make it easier and more accessible for participants to follow a training or treatment."
Do you have any tips for practitioners/trainers who are starting live online training and treatment?
"The most important thing: it's not scary! I myself found it very exciting in the beginning. I was also worried about the privacy of the groups and clients. For example, we have contact with children about difficulties in the home situation. They sometimes can't speak freely at home with parents nearby. But we became very creative in finding solutions. For example, we agreed on code words and made good arrangements with parents to give their children that space as well. Once that was in place, the live online contact worked really well. I have noticed that you can find a solution to anything, as long as you are creative. And are you working with a team on live online courses? Then help each other. Together you come up with great ideas!"
Do you want to start live online training and treatment just like Jamal and his team? Then get in touch with us! We would love to help you.
Want to know more about our accelerated covid-19 training? Click here.
